Over The Rhine â€“ The Trumpet Child

â€œI Donâ€™t Wanna Waste Your Timeâ€ is oneof the first tracks on â€œThe Trumpet Childâ€, and it shows Over the Rhine as an extremely mature band that is able to set off a track that will introduce fans properly to the rest of the album. There is a high amount of jazz and blues influence that present themselves during this introductory track, and even when Over the Rhine start to speed things up, they do not jettison this introductory sound. Brass add a little bit more in the way of flair to the track, but this does not detract from the sultry vocals that occupy the focal point of the song.

Over the Rhine have been around for sufficiently long enough of a period of time that they know exactly how to link together subsequent tracks on â€œThe Trumpet Childâ€ without having their work on their album create a rut for them that they cannot escape. This means that a song like â€œTroubleâ€ has a significantly different sound to it to keep individuals interested, even when one considers that a number of the structures in â€œTroubleâ€ are the same as those as in â€œI Donâ€™t Wanna Waste Your Timeâ€. â€œIâ€™m On A Rollâ€ has a more bouncy sound to the track than is the typical fare during â€œThe Trumpet Childâ€, and does so by adding a little bit of an alt country flow to the track. â€œNothing Is Innocentâ€ is another nice derivation from the norm by Over the Rhine.

Instead of continuing in either the blues / jazz vein or the alt-country vein of prior tracks, the band goes into a 1920s pop sound. This is made all the more realistic with a type of fuzz that would normally only be present on an old and well worn album. Over the Rhine has been around quite a few years at this point, and it is incredibly clear at the end of â€œThe Trumpet Childâ€ that the band has learned quite a few things since they first picked up their instruments. Each and every one of the tracks on the disc could conceivably make it on alternative radio, but there are so many layers and so many ways to take the songs on the disc. If you are a fan of carefully tempered, smartly crafted indie rock, polished to remove any crags, Over the Rhineâ€™s â€œThe Trumpet Childâ€ has to be the album to pick up this year.

Author: James McQuiston

Ph.D. in Political Science, Kent State University.
I have been the editor at NeuFutur / neufutur.com since I was 15. Looking for new staff members all the time; email me if you are interested. Thanks!
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